The plot, said Holder, was the closest the U.S. has come to a terrorist attack since 9/11. The nation's top law enforcement officer - making the comments one day after we learn that Pres. Obama had been in the loop about this alleged plot since late August.
There are skeptics who believed at the time of the raids on homes in Queens and Colorado that this was another "gang that couldn't shoot straight" situation involving terrorist wannabees. Those guys can be, of course, just as dangerous as disciplined, trained terrorists. But they usually implode on their own and of their own ineptitude - witness the alleged and supposed "terrorists" who were "plotting" to bomb two Jewish buildings in the Riverdale section of the Bronx earlier this year.
But the indictment against Zazi paints a somber and more frightening scenario.
Meanwhile, Mr. Obama today pledged to give counter-terrorism folks the tools and support they need to conduct their business. A positive, proactive position to be sure - but the President's predecessor gave similar assurances. Yes, we weren't attacked since that fateful day in September, 2001 - but we did manage to invade two countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) and make more enemies that we had before the attacks. Can anyone say "waterboarding?"
We'll have the latest on the terror plot, tonight at 11.
Also at 11, a big development in a story we broke last Friday night. It's an outrageously infuriating story - the widow of a Jersey City police officer who was killed in the line of duty in July, hadn't received a dime of her husband's pension. She was trying to make ends meet for herself and her kids, but without her husband's salary and without any benefit, she was having a hard time.
Our story apparently got action. Today, the widow of Marc DiNardo received her first pension check. And now a New Jersey lawmaker is introducing legislation to get pension money paid quickly to beneficiaries of cops and firefighters who are killed in action.
Our Jeff Pegues broke the story on Friday, and he's on the new developments tonight at 11.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast, and Scott Clark with the night's sports, including the winner of tonight's one-game tie-breaker to determine who the Yankees play in the American League playoffs.
I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11.
BILL RITTER
